Attendance and Absence
Schools are legally required to work along side the Local Authority to promote the importance of regular school attendance. It is expected schools will monitor and share absence details with Local Authorities should legal proceedings be considered. Pupils’ attendance is monitored and parents of those who fail to attend the required time may face prosecution.
If your child is absent from school:
- Contact the school before 9:30am .
- Please give the reason for absence and the day you expect your child will return to school .
Punctuality
In each class the teacher takes a register. The register is taken twice a day. If your child is late for school after the register has been closed your child is marked as late after registration. This often results as lost learning and stress for the child as they arrive and they have to catch up with missed learning. The Local Authority recognise this as an absent mark. Sustained lateness can result in prosecution so we ask parents who are having difficulty with morning routines to speak to one of our Safeguarding Leads.
How do schools work out attendance?
Schools count each day as 2 sessions (AM & PM) Your child has to attend 10 full session (5 days, morning and afternoon) each week to achieve 100% attendance. If your child has a half day absence they would have 90% for that week. One day absence would be 80%.
Why is attendance important?
A child at 90% attendance throughout their school career will have missed a full year of schooling by the end of Year 9.
A child at 80% attendance will have missed a year of schooling by the end of Year 4.
There is a clear link between good attendance and good outcomes. We want your children to do well and gain the most out of school. For that they need to be here.
How families can help...
- Make sure you arrive to school on time. Good punctuality is essential for your child and allows the staff team to deliver teaching and learning without interruptions. No child enjoys arriving late at school.
- Avoid taking holidays during term time. Holidays count as absence.
- Arrange non-urgent medical and dental appointments after school. If the appointment has to be in school hours then the pupil must attend part of that day. They should not have a full day off to attend an appointment.
- If your child is refusing to come to school encourage your child to explain the reasons for this to you.
What is unauthorised absence?
Unauthorised absence is used when no reason has been given for the absence or the reason given is not acceptable. For example keeping a child off school to go shopping.
I need to visit family abroad in an emergency
School recognises that many of its community has family abroad. They may need extended leave of absence to return home to visit family that they haven't seen for some time. If you feel that this may apply to you please look at the attendance on a page document and speak to either Claire Scott (FSW) or Nick Shepherd (DHT)
Why have I received an Attendance letter?
Your child has fallen to a level of attendance that concerns the school. This is anything under 95%. The school in the first instance will wish to explore the reasons behind non attendance and look to remove those barriers.
But my child has a health condition
We are here to support ALL families even those with medical conditions. We also work closely with medical staff to help parents access the right support to help their child.
What are parenting contracts?
A parenting contract is a formal written agreement between a home, school and the Local Authority. Parenting contracts are intended to give you support to get the most out of school for your child.